The Longevity List

The Longevity List

Myth busting the top ways to live a long and healthy life

Professor Merlin Thomas

Red wine is good for us. Alcohol is bad for us. Cut out sugar. Eat less fat. Eat more fat. Every day we’re bombarded by often-contradictory advice on what to do to keep ourselves healthy. How can we separate fact from fad? Written by a medical clinician, this is the ultimate myth-busting guide to what will really help us live a long and healthy life. Professor Thomas looks at each item on the ‘longevity list’ in turn, analysing why it’s come to be considered a health priority, and giving his scientifically backed verdict on how much attention we really need to pay to it. You’ll learn everything from why taking statins to lower LDL cholesterol might not be a good idea for everyone with higher than desirable levels, to whether there’s a connection between donating blood regularly and living a longer life. Along the way you’ll discover stacks of intriguing, entertaining and often very funny facts. Why do people get drunk more quickly on champagne? Is caffeine really a performance-enhancing drug? Can chocolate improve your sex life? This is the one-stop checklist to living a life that might just see you reach your 100th birthday and beyond!

Merlin Thomas MBChB, PhD, FRACP is Professor of Medicine at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Professor Thomas is both a physician and a research scientist. His research primarily focuses on diabetes and its complications, and finding practical means for their control, but he has a broader interest in all aspects of preventive medicine and ageing. He has published over 300 articles in many of the world’s leading medical journals, as well as several books including Understanding Type 2 Diabetes and Fast Living, Slow Ageing. He is internationally recognized as a speaker, opinion-leader, teacher and medical storyteller.

MEDIA

The West End Magazine, November 2017

"Just like the content, the chapters are filled with good humour, including titles such as ‘Do I Really Have to: Get off the Couch? Find Love? Lose the Waist?’ ... The Longevity List is set to bring good cheer while informing readers with fact-based opinions"

Yours Magazine, November 2017

"explores how to live better for longer". - Click here to view the double page feature.

Travel Writers Radio, November 2017

Click here and here to listen to the two part interview of Merlin debunking the most common health myths.

Talking Lifestyle, October2017

Blue Wolf Reviews, October 2017

"Professor Merlin Thomas takes a number of the wonderful myths and realities of the longevity quest and places them firmly under the spotlight of common sense, exploding many, concurring on some and laughing at others, but all the while delivering a good dose of reality on how we choose to live, exercise and eat." - Click here to view.

Woman's Day Magazine, October 2017

Saga Magazine, October 2017

"There is so much contradictory information about increasing lifespan. Red wine is good for you. Don't drink alcohol. Cut out fats. Eat good fats. This engaging book provides the facts about the effectiveness of lifestyle trends such as quitting sugar, reducing booze and eating more veg, and pinpoints what really makes a difference to long-term health. It also demystifies concerns such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Sensible stuff."

ABC Adelaide - Drive, September 14.

ABC The Night Life, September 2017

"What does it take to live a long and healthy life? Professor Merlin Thomas, author of The Longevity List, is our guest tonight to sort out the fact from the fiction when it comes to the things that really make a difference." - Click here to listen

Australian Nurisng and Midwife Journal, September 2017

"The Longevity List takes a light-hearted and entertaining approach looking at the evidence of the wealth of health information we are bombarded with. A physician and research scientist, Thomas aims to sort the medical fact from health industry myths - and provides his scientifically backed verdict."

ABC Brisbane, September 2017

ABC Darwin, September 2017

FiveAA Evenings, September 2017

Active Retirees, August 2017

"The Longevity List is a new book that explores the common wisdom many of us adhere to in the hopes of improving our health, and whether or not adages like ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ have any basis in fact." - Click here to view.

Information

News

06/06/2017

Congratulations to Tania McCartney and Jess Racklyeft! Tania and Jess' Smile Cry has won SCBWI's Crystal Kite Award in ANZ!! The annual Crystal Kite Award is a peer-given award to recognise great books from 15 SCBWI regional divisions around the world.

If you want to see other recipients of the award from around the globe, visit the winners page right here!